We Are Not Fragile Little Christians
"Go you therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."
( Matthew 28:19-20)
"Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?… for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, 'I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them, and be you separate…"
(2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
What is going on here? Are Jesus and Paul giving a conflict of commands?
Jesus is making it very clear in the first verses that Christians are to go into the unbelieving world and attempt to make converts to the faith. In order to do this, it is obvious that Christians must mingle with these people and get to know them by associating with them.
Then Paul comes along and tells the Corinthians that they should "come out from among them, and be you separate"! How are Christians to ever draw people to Christ if they don't even get near them or interact with them?
Most of the teaching I've heard concerning Paul's passage has begun with the assumption that our Christianity is fragile, and our relationship to God delicate, and our righteousness and holiness easily shattered. Therefore we draw back in fear, afraid to touch this or be involved in that.
BUT IS OUR CHRISTIANITY FRAGILE?
We are kept by the power of God, and the power of God isn't fragile. It's the power that threw the worlds into space, and sustains solar systems. The solar system isn't fragile, and our salvation isn't fragile either. They were created by the same power. Our salvation isn't in any danger, and we don't have to be afraid of this or that contact or this or that association. It's not going to be somehow destructive of us.
We have Jesus Christ living in us in a living, eternal union with us. We can and do at times neglect this spiritual relationship because of external worldly influences drawing us to sin. This is going to happen as sure as and as long as we live in these material bodies.
Well then, why does God even allow His kids to remain in this unbelieving society where they are forced to mingle among worldly influences? God wants to use us to bring other new children to Him. And He is not afraid of losing His children in the midst of a separated world. Why? Because we are not fragile!
There is an old expression that applies very forcefully here: Hate the sin, but love the sinner! Jesus mingled purposefully among some of the most public sinners of His time – the tax-collectors, prostitutes, heavy drinkers, etc. He associated with them so often, in fact, that He was accused of being one of them, a "wine-bibber"!
But you say, "Well sure, Jesus could get away with this because He was perfect and didn't have to worry about being influenced to sin!" Wrong! Jesus had to consider the influence of sin just as we do. But He knew that the close relationship with the Father within Him would protect Him and that those around Him were not going to be destructive of Him.
And we, as Christians, draw on the same power of protection from destruction through our union with Christ that Jesus did by the power of the Father within Him. We can go out and comfort the sinner right in the middle of the sin which we hate. This is the way of Christ – and Christ is within and guiding and protecting us.
Now God certainly knew that, as we lived in the world so that He could use us to draw others, we would at times slip and be drawn into the sin with them. This didn't seem to worry God, and it should not worry us.
Sin is serious, and I don't mean to white-wash it. Sin is spiritually fatal to unbelievers. It is a spiritually terminal disease to those without God. And it hurts people physically in many ways that they do not even comprehend.
"By His stripes we are healed!" The Christian, by his union with Christ, has received "anti-bodies" to the disease of sin. We can still occasionally contract the disease of sin by associating with those who have it. We can even get some minor symptoms of pain and disfunction. But the powerful anti-bodies of Christ within will never allow the disease to consume us. We will always recover. God will not allow His children to be kidnapped away from Him and destroyed by the disease of sin.
This is why God is able to use His children in this material world and allow them to associate among sinners. The disease of sin will never kill us because we have the resistant anti-bodies within us. We are like doctors and nurses who have been immunized against smallpox and are thus able to work among and help and attempt to heal those who contract smallpox. We are not risking our lives to be near the sick because we are resistant and they need compassion, help and understanding.
The greater purpose of God overshadows the occasional hurt of sin to the Christian. God needs us to love sinners. Otherwise the best thing that could have happened to us would have been to drown us in the waters of baptism.
Paul is not talking about protecting ourselves from the world. A better wording might be: "STAND OUT from among them, and LOOK separate!" It is talking about distinguishing ourselves.
THE KEY TO CHRISTIANITY IS NOT WHERE A PERSON CAN'T GO, AND WHAT HE CAN'T DO. BUT IT IS WHAT A CHRISTIAN IS ABLE TO DO, AND THE POWER HE HAS. This is the manifestation of the life of God in him.
I am not talking about delicate little Christians who may get harmed if they move in the world. Instead, I am talking about a powerful new race of human beings with the life of God inside of them and anti-bodies to sin flooding throughout their systems.
A Christian transforms the things that he comes in contact with – he is not conformed to those things of the world.
The basic idea that Paul meant to get across is not that you should fear an association with the sinners of the world, but instead
that you be prepared to TRANSFORM them!
( Matthew 28:19-20)
"Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?… for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, 'I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them, and be you separate…"
(2 Corinthians 6:14-17)
What is going on here? Are Jesus and Paul giving a conflict of commands?
Jesus is making it very clear in the first verses that Christians are to go into the unbelieving world and attempt to make converts to the faith. In order to do this, it is obvious that Christians must mingle with these people and get to know them by associating with them.
Then Paul comes along and tells the Corinthians that they should "come out from among them, and be you separate"! How are Christians to ever draw people to Christ if they don't even get near them or interact with them?
Most of the teaching I've heard concerning Paul's passage has begun with the assumption that our Christianity is fragile, and our relationship to God delicate, and our righteousness and holiness easily shattered. Therefore we draw back in fear, afraid to touch this or be involved in that.
BUT IS OUR CHRISTIANITY FRAGILE?
We are kept by the power of God, and the power of God isn't fragile. It's the power that threw the worlds into space, and sustains solar systems. The solar system isn't fragile, and our salvation isn't fragile either. They were created by the same power. Our salvation isn't in any danger, and we don't have to be afraid of this or that contact or this or that association. It's not going to be somehow destructive of us.
We have Jesus Christ living in us in a living, eternal union with us. We can and do at times neglect this spiritual relationship because of external worldly influences drawing us to sin. This is going to happen as sure as and as long as we live in these material bodies.
Well then, why does God even allow His kids to remain in this unbelieving society where they are forced to mingle among worldly influences? God wants to use us to bring other new children to Him. And He is not afraid of losing His children in the midst of a separated world. Why? Because we are not fragile!
There is an old expression that applies very forcefully here: Hate the sin, but love the sinner! Jesus mingled purposefully among some of the most public sinners of His time – the tax-collectors, prostitutes, heavy drinkers, etc. He associated with them so often, in fact, that He was accused of being one of them, a "wine-bibber"!
But you say, "Well sure, Jesus could get away with this because He was perfect and didn't have to worry about being influenced to sin!" Wrong! Jesus had to consider the influence of sin just as we do. But He knew that the close relationship with the Father within Him would protect Him and that those around Him were not going to be destructive of Him.
And we, as Christians, draw on the same power of protection from destruction through our union with Christ that Jesus did by the power of the Father within Him. We can go out and comfort the sinner right in the middle of the sin which we hate. This is the way of Christ – and Christ is within and guiding and protecting us.
Now God certainly knew that, as we lived in the world so that He could use us to draw others, we would at times slip and be drawn into the sin with them. This didn't seem to worry God, and it should not worry us.
Sin is serious, and I don't mean to white-wash it. Sin is spiritually fatal to unbelievers. It is a spiritually terminal disease to those without God. And it hurts people physically in many ways that they do not even comprehend.
"By His stripes we are healed!" The Christian, by his union with Christ, has received "anti-bodies" to the disease of sin. We can still occasionally contract the disease of sin by associating with those who have it. We can even get some minor symptoms of pain and disfunction. But the powerful anti-bodies of Christ within will never allow the disease to consume us. We will always recover. God will not allow His children to be kidnapped away from Him and destroyed by the disease of sin.
This is why God is able to use His children in this material world and allow them to associate among sinners. The disease of sin will never kill us because we have the resistant anti-bodies within us. We are like doctors and nurses who have been immunized against smallpox and are thus able to work among and help and attempt to heal those who contract smallpox. We are not risking our lives to be near the sick because we are resistant and they need compassion, help and understanding.
The greater purpose of God overshadows the occasional hurt of sin to the Christian. God needs us to love sinners. Otherwise the best thing that could have happened to us would have been to drown us in the waters of baptism.
Paul is not talking about protecting ourselves from the world. A better wording might be: "STAND OUT from among them, and LOOK separate!" It is talking about distinguishing ourselves.
THE KEY TO CHRISTIANITY IS NOT WHERE A PERSON CAN'T GO, AND WHAT HE CAN'T DO. BUT IT IS WHAT A CHRISTIAN IS ABLE TO DO, AND THE POWER HE HAS. This is the manifestation of the life of God in him.
I am not talking about delicate little Christians who may get harmed if they move in the world. Instead, I am talking about a powerful new race of human beings with the life of God inside of them and anti-bodies to sin flooding throughout their systems.
A Christian transforms the things that he comes in contact with – he is not conformed to those things of the world.
The basic idea that Paul meant to get across is not that you should fear an association with the sinners of the world, but instead
that you be prepared to TRANSFORM them!
posted by Lou Hodapp @ 11:01 PM
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